Quantum Fertiliser

"Shipping records, leaked video and internal documents show the movement of a significant haul of urea fertiliser out of Iran last month, through the Middle East and on to China.The shipment was then reloaded onto a cargo ship being used by Quantum Fertiliser, a Hong Kong-based trading subsidiary of the ASX-listed multinational Incitec Pivot, a one-time contractor with the federal government and donor to the Labor party. The company said it was “misled about the origin of the product” and was urgently offloading the suspect cargo, while launching a wider review to “remove the risk of a repeat of this situation”...Internal documents suggest Quantum knew the goods it was loading had just come from a cargo vessel named the CS Future. The Guardian has separately established that the CS Future left Iran’s Bandar Abbas port on 1 July. Vessel inspection reports show it was carrying “urea in bulk”.The vessel arrived at Lianyungang, China, on 25 July, via Oman, and began unloading its cargo, valued at an estimated $10-$15m. The haul was then reloaded onto a second cargo ship, the Bulk Aquila. Quantum said it was assured by its Chinese supplier that it was buying products of Chinese origin. It had since rejected the cargo and alerted authorities." (The Guardian, "Mystery $15m Iran shipment exposes Australian-owned firm to sanctions threat," 8/15/2019).